Trip report: Bangladesh
Visited in February 2022
Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, is regularly ranked as the least livable city in the world. Also, when seasoned travelers discuss the worst city in the world, you can be assured that Dhaka will get mentioned more than once. Having already been to a few cities with a reputation of being “terrible”, I was therefore curious to see how Dhaka would turn out. Needless to say, I did not let the negative comments on the Bangladeshi capital scare me and tried to be as open-minded as possible to give the city a fair chance.
The arrival in Dhaka was pretty straightforward. They checked my PCR test, then I went to passport control, where a policeman was quite baffled to meet a tourist. So baffled that he waved another colleague over (“hey, here is a tourist!”) and the three of us chatted for a few minutes. It does not happen often that you meet nice people at passport control. In this regard, Bangladesh already seemed to be an exception.
Once you leave the airport building in Dhaka, it gets quite interesting, as you are standing in sort of a steel cage. Cars can pick up arriving passengers in this caged area, but other people cannot enter. Therefore, hundreds of locals are around this cage with their arms hanging through the bars. At the same time, armed soldiers wearing a rather strange camouflage uniform, which is a multicolored mix of blue, yellow, orange and other colors, stand in front of the doors to the terminal, which make you feel quite uneasy. “Where the hell did I just land?” one or the other arriving passenger will probably ask himself.
Personally, however, I was full of joy because I had just entered my 128th country. I would be lying if I said that Bangladesh had been high on my bucket list for a long time. After all, the country seems to be rather unpopular among travelers. Nevertheless, it always makes me happy when I enter another new country. I mean, it’s always one step closer to my goal of visiting every country in the world.
During the drive to the hotel, I was able to gather some first impressions of Dhaka. Although you don’t get much of the street life, it was already apparent that this city is “wild”. The traffic gave me a foretaste of what to expect in the next two days, as the streets were pretty congested and if there was no traffic jam, people started to drive like maniacs.
In addition, I heard sirens from time to time, as we know it in Europe with the police or ambulance. In Dhaka, however, these are normal vehicles for which all other cars then make room. These cars belong to people who work for the government and they have the right that all other cars need to let them through when they use the siren.
My hotel was in the Gulshan district, where Dhaka’s upper-class lives. This district, or slightly north of it near the airport, is also where most of the city’s luxury hotels are located. My hotel was right next to Banani Lake, which actually looks much more like a river, and whose water is apparently toxic due to the pollution.
So, what kind of city is Dhaka? Bangladesh is the eighth most populous country in the world. 164 million people are located in an area half the size of Italy. 9 million of these live in Dhaka, or 21 million if you consider the metropolitan region. Dhaka is the most densely populated city in the world and also the world’s fastest growing mega-city.
It is extremely questionable whether Dhaka will be able to cope with this capacity in the future. With climate change and the associated rising sea levels, more than 10% of the country’s population will lose their homes. Although Dhaka is not directly on the coast, the city is likely to be severely affected because of the many rivers that flow through the country. Already today, Dhaka is regularly flooded due to its poor infrastructure. It is not uncommon to see cars or rickshaws driving through the knee-deep water of the city that looks like a bathtub then.
Apart from that, Dhaka is, as already mentioned, a city with enormous pollution. Already when landing, the plane sinks into a dense blanket of fog. As soon as you are in the city itself, you only see the silhouette of many houses, which stands out in the layer of smog. It is definitely one of the most polluted cities I have ever seen.
Having said all that, I can confirm that Dhaka is certainly not a city to feel comfortable in. However, I also must admit that on the one hand I knew what to expect, and on the other hand I have seen similar cities before, so I wasn’t really shocked. Anyone who has been to a major Indian city has basically already seen something similar to Dhaka.
What was far beyond my imagination, though, was the traffic. From one end of the city to the other it takes 3 hours by car on a normal day. I had booked a tour for my second day in Dhaka and while we were in the car, we were standing most of the time or driving at walking pace. I really have never seen anything like it before. Nowhere in the 128 countries I have visited so far. Often I have heard that cities like Nairobi or Jakarta are terrible in terms of traffic. Dhaka is again a whole other level and I would claim that it is the worst city in the world traffic-wise. Even worse than Lagos.
My tour made the first stop in Old Dhaka. Google Maps shows either two hours on foot or one hour by car from my hotel to Old Dhaka. However, you can safely ignore the driving times, as it took two and a half hours. Therefore, walking would have been the better option.
Since the car was stuck in traffic all the time, we also had beggars at the window every few minutes, asking for something. Also interesting were the vehicles on the road, especially the local buses. The buses were full of holes and looked damaged, as if people used a jackhammer on them. I believe I have never seen public transport vehicles in such a desolate condition.
As I said, Dhaka is not a city where you feel comfortable. Not because you have the feeling that it could be dangerous (according to various sources, you still have to be careful in Dhaka), but because the traffic, the many people, the garbage lying everywhere, the noise and the pollution make you feel uneasy. Perhaps, I should also mention that Bangladesh is definitely not a lucky country. Besides the threat of climate change, Bangladesh is dealing with many things that are going wrong in the world: Poverty, child labor, corruption, sex tourism, refugees, among others.
Yet Bangladesh is actually a young country. The country was only founded in 1971. Previously, it was part of the British Empire in India until 1947. When the country split into a Hindu country (India) and a Muslim country (Pakistan). Bangladesh was East Pakistan at that time, although East and West Pakistan were separated by India and the distance between the two Pakistan was more than 2’000km. Since West Pakistan and East Pakistan were separated not only geographically, but also culturally and linguistically, conflicts occurred between the two, resulting in the creation of the state of Bangladesh in 1971.
So much for the history of the country. After getting through the hell of Dhaka’s traffic, we were finally in Old Dhaka. Holy shit, guys, this is probably the most chaotic district I’ve ever seen. The narrow streets are full of people and rickshaws, it’s loud, it’s colorful – and I have to say I found it fascinating. In hindsight, that was definitely the most interesting part of the city, albeit an overwhelming one.
Since I just mentioned the rickshaws, I would like to explain how to get around in Dhaka. After all, it’s not uncommon to change vehicles at some point on your way from A to B. We used first a car but changed to a rickshaw once in Old Dhaka, because the alleys would have been too narrow for the car. There are also so-called CNGs, which are basically tuktuks. However, unlike their counterparts from other countries, you sit there in a small cage. For claustrophobic people it’s probably not the best transport option.
In Old Dhaka, we had visited the sight that interested me the most in Dhaka: Ahsan Manzil aka the Pink Palace. A beautiful building and perhaps the only picturesque place in the whole city. Dhaka is not really a city that offers an abundance of sights. Ahsan Manzil, however, is definitely worth a visit.
We left Dhaka later in the afternoon. An undertaking that also took over an hour. The destination was Sonargaon, the old capital of Bangladesh and Panam City. According to my guide, the best trip you can make from Dhaka.
These two places seem like complete oases of calm if you have been to Dhaka before. Sonargaon is actually a museum and you need about 30-60 minutes to see it. It’s also a picturesque place and in my opinion worth a visit. Bangladeshi also use this place as a retreat every now and then to escape Dhaka for a few hours.
Panam City is just a few minutes away from Sonargaon. It is basically a street that you walk up and down in about twenty minutes or even less. This street consists of many old buildings and is also a place where many young Bangladeshi go to create some social media content.
We finished the day with a boat ride on the Meghna River, before we drove back to Dhaka. Of course, we were driving at walking pace again for most of the time. The drive, which would take a good hour according to Google Maps, took almost three again. Sitting in a car in Bangladesh was definitely exhausting. Plus, it also made me lose my interest of seeing new places.
I had another full day in Bangladesh, in which I spent almost no time inside a car. However, it was still a day to forget. My hotel had organized a PCR test for me the day before, which I needed for my departure. When I received the result, it turned out that the wrong lab was ordered. Apparently, for leaving Bangladesh, you need a PCR test from a certified lab and my PCR test was done by some lab that does not do a “travel PCR test”.
As a consequence, I had to go to a certified lab again at 11:00 on that day. Unfortunately, this ruined my program a bit. I had planned to do a guided Dhaka tour to see some other sights of the city but I had to cancel it then. Instead, I later explored Dhaka a bit on my own on foot. The impressions were basically the same as the day before: There was a lot of chaos, a lot of noise, a lot of people and a lot of dirt. I must honestly admit that Dhaka is a city where you don’t want to leave your hotel.
I would have loved to see Old Dhaka a second time. But seriously guys, driving there for three hours and then the same distance back, I really did not have the energy for that. That was a pity, because I would have liked to spend more time there. In retrospect, I sometimes reproach myself for not having shown enough traveler spirit to do it. What certainly didn’t help either was all the fuss about the PCR test, which made the whole day rather unpleasant.
Is Dhaka really the worst city in the world? In terms of traffic, I would say yes. Otherwise, it is definitely not a nice city but in my opinion neither the worst. Nevertheless, I can absolutely understand why many people dislike Dhaka and I would recommend this city only the those who have a lot of patience and don’t mind being stuck in a car for hours.
It’s not just that Dhaka has a terrible reputation, by the way. Some seasoned travelers even call Bangladesh the worst country in the world. However, I do not want to join this harsh judgment in any case. If you have only seen Dhaka, I can understand that you did not like it. However, Bangladesh is not only Dhaka. The country has safari parks, beautiful nature, tropical islands and other attractions that other countries do not have. The only problem is that traveling around the country takes a lot of time and wherever you plan to go, the journey is probably not very comfortable.
I left Bangladesh the next day for Sri Lanka. The airport in Dhaka also offered a few surprises. So there was a queue in front of the entrance to the terminal, which easily consisted of 500 people. A guy approached me and told me he could get me in faster for 1’000 Taka, which is about 11 dollars. I declined.
I simply used another entrance with no queue but with a policeman standing in front of the door. There I showed my foreign passport and this seemed to be enough to enter. Also at check-in, when the Sri Lankan Airlines staff noticed my foreign passport, I was led past the whole queue. As a foreigner, you definitely enjoy special treatment at this airport.
On the plane afterwards, there were an estimated 99% men between 18 and 25 years old. What was bizarre was that about half of these gentlemen made a video call and wanted to show their friends and relatives the plane from the inside. Even as the plane began to roll, at least 20 of these guys were still walking down the aisle with their cell phone cameras in their hands.
As funny as this observation might be, on the other hand, the background of their presence on the plane is rather sad. For them, Sri Lanka is just a stopover before they travel on to the Gulf countries, where they will do the dirty work for Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Bahrain or Saudi Arabia under inhumane conditions and for dumping wages.
My trip to Bangladesh was over then. What is my conclusion? My time in the country was marked by stress, caused on the one hand by Dhaka and on the other hand by the trouble I had with the PCR test. Nonetheless, I would say that I got too little out of my stay. I could have definitely seen and experienced more, but in some countries not everything works out the way you think it will.
Will Bangladesh ever see me again? Probably not anytime soon. Still, I wouldn’t rule it out completely either. Maybe someday there will be another opportunity to see the really beautiful and exciting things of the country.
If you ever go to Bangladesh, I can recommend Rocky (Whatsapp: +880 1624 502 265) from Cholo Bangladesh Tours, an incredibly friendly and accommodating young man who offers tours to all corners of the country and will make sure you have a good time.
Wow, I sincerely appreciate your honest narrative and the unvarnished advice you shared. Dhaka is on my list of cities to visit, although I wonder how much patience I will need in order to make it! Good on you how you turned a negative into a positive. I definitely want to read more about your travels!